Original subtitles

Hello there.

I'm Ryan Reynolds.

Yeah, hmm.

That Ryan Reynolds.

I'm a film actor,

occasionally I dabble in television

and other industries.

I'm also a father.

But I'm ready to move on from all of that crap.

So what's next?

Wildlife, that's what.

Nope, not these blowhards.

They don't need my help.

I'm here for these guys.

Nature's benchwarmers.

I'm talking grade-A freaks

and their freakin' bizarre, weird, freakshow lives.

Get ready for the Underdogs.

♪ I wanna be your underdog ♪

These guys are the grossest, weirdest...

♪ I'm not number one, but I'm second to none ♪

...the most unlikely stars in the great movie of life.

♪ Heroes are overrated when you are the outlaw ♪

Now it's their time to shine.

♪ Cuz I wanna be your underdog ♪

Wherever there is blatant mischief,

wherever there is abject cowardice,

wherever there is unbearable sexual tension...

...that's where you'll find the underdogs.

You tell 'em, Green Day.

♪ I'm not a loser ♪

♪ I'm not a loser ♪

♪ I wanna be your underdog ♪

I'm Ryan Reynolds.

♪ I wanna be your underdog ♪

And I endorse these weirdoes.

The tropical rain forest.

Mother Nature's masterpiece.

Home to half of all the animal species on Earth.

Including some real weirdos.

Don't judge, though.

Here at Underdogs, we celebrate the strange.

This little beauty is a velvet worm.

These things have been around since way before the dinosaurs,

like my mom, Tammy.

And their ancestors were some of the first creatures

to ever walk on land.

I say walk because Betty-- I'm calling her Betty--

is not really a worm.

She's got legs.

Legs for days.

40 pairs to be specific.

But while they maxed out on legs,

velvet worms forgot about vision.

Betty's feeble eyesight means she's totally oblivious

to the fact that she is being watched.

Ominous music, please.

The wolf spider has eight eyes--greedy--

and they're fixed on Betty.

♪ When I'm walking feel just like a king ♪

Ohhh, she's dead.

Spiders have spent their time on Earth

honing their spidey senses

to become the ultimate venom-packed killing machines.

So, it could be a bad day to be a six-inch tube of protein

bumbling through the forest.

Oh, god, this is too tense.

♪ I'm just walking alo-o-ong ♪

I'm so uncomfortable.

♪ Oh, whoa whoa whoa, whoa whoa whoa ♪

Betty, if you have a plan, and I suspect you don't,

now would be a good time.

Oh... my... lord.

Velvet worm slime would be

a kindergarten teacher's worst nightmare.

It's as sticky as super glue, it hardens in seconds,

and they can shoot it up to a foot.

We will not be using it for craft time.

Betty, you dark horse.

♪ Walkin' along my merry way ♪

Welcome to the world of pathetic animals

with superpowers.

Say hello to the Superzeroes.

No I swear, Mom, that's velvet worm slime.

Slime-squirting Betty is just the start.

All over the world there are underdogs, who, like me,

have mastered the art of overcoming their deficiencies,

and trust me, it's a superpower.

In fact, if I was to come up with a totally made-up reason

to assemble a whole team of Superzeroes,

I'd be spoiled for choice.

And if you don't believe me, ha!

Strap in for the ride, my friends.

Aaahhh, Africa.

Land of wild giants.

Tall ones.

Horny ones.

Bitey ones.

But if you're looking for somebody

with a surprising superpower,

you need to look beyond the usual suspects;

they're not all they're cracked up to be.

Don't, don't drink that.

I wanna introduce you to one of Africa's supporting cast.

Overlooked and undersized.

Dodging death more times in a week

than you will in a lifetime.

No, not the bees.

Meet Barry, the honey badger.

He's just been stung 106 times,

and his week's just begun.

Honey badgers aren't afraid of anything.

A kick from an ostrich could kill a lion.

Barry didn't get that memo.

♪ So you're a tough guy, like-it-really-rough guy ♪

♪ Just-can't-get-enough guy ♪

So why do honey badgers laugh in the face of danger?

It's because they're really, really...

dumb.

No, sorry, hard to kill,

it says hard to kill here, apologies.

♪ I'm the bad guy ♪

♪ Duh ♪

This superpower means that honey badgers can tackle

the prey that most animals sensibly avoid.

Their skin is tougher to get through

than my five year old's dance recital.

And like my five year old,

they're shockingly resistant to venom.

In fact, one in four of Barry's meals...

...is a venomous snake.

♪ Bad ♪

Mmm, that is spicy.

Good week so far.

But how's Barry gonna cope when he's on the menu?

African hunting dogs are one of the most efficient

predators on the continent.

They catch 80% of the things they chase,

and if they catch it, they kill it,

or just eat it till it dies.

Oh, o-okay, ouch, ouch, ouch.

Look, look, look away now, kids.

Ugh!

Now I know this is hard to watch,

so if it makes things easier,

I'm gonna let you know that Barry's gonna be fine, okay?

This is all in a day's work for this guy.

Not only is badger skin tougher than a two-dollar steak,

it's also very baggy.

For the dogs it's like trying to grab a football

in a sack of grease.

♪ When they finally come to destroy the Earth ♪

♪ They'll have to deal with you first ♪

The hunting dogs get an A+ for effort.

♪ A thousand Fahrenheit, hot metal lights behind your eyes ♪

♪ Invincible ♪

But after trying their little hearts out

to dismember the badger, the dogs start to run out of ideas.

♪ Crushing, crashing invincible ♪

Eventually they admit defeat.

♪ Invincible ♪

And go in search of something easier to kill,

like Chuck Norris or, or a tank.

Tough as balls.

A little bruised and beaten,

but soon Barry's back to his old self.

Living proof you should never underestimate the little guy.

Indestructability.

As superpowers go, ha, a classic.

But we need a full range of powers.

Next up, a peanut-sized Superzero

with an awesome ability to escape detection

by the bad guys...

most of the time,

statistically speaking.

Meet Eric, a glass frog.

♪ Do you think that I can get some? ♪

It's his favorite time of year.

♪ You my electrical lip balm ♪

When he and the other frogs all get together for an orgy.

♪ And can I get a little zip-zip? ♪

Scientists call this mating season.

♪ Hey, whatcha say? It doesn't matter anyway ♪

Eric, he doesn't care what they call it,

he's just orgy crazy.

But in life, there are consequences.

Eric is now a father to 263 babies

from 12 different mothers.

He's like a musician or a famous athlete.

And in his world, it's the daddies who do the daycare.

Refreshing.

Kinda questioning your life choices now, aren't you, fella?

But being a single parent is not Eric's superpower.

We're coming to that.

He needs to keep these little muffins safe for two weeks

until they hatch.

And this place is crawling with stranger danger.

This is a katydid.

She has a taste for frog eggs.

Who doesn't?

And a beautiful smile.

See?

Now, we know Eric's a lover,

but is he also a fighter?

Boom!

I guess that's a yes.

But that's not his superpower either.

Eric has to stay put to guard the kids,

but that puts him in danger, too.

A parrot snake.

He loves to chew gum and kill frogs,

and he's all out of gum.

Now, like most dads of 263 children,

this papa is always on high alert for danger.

Right, Eric?

Eric?!

♪ Do you think that I can get some? ♪

Ha ha ha, shame on you.

♪ You my electrical lip balm ♪

So disappointing.

It looks like a bad time for a nap.

But Eric has a weird ability

that only happens when he sleeps.

As Eric dozes off,

over 90% of his blood is redirected into his liver,

which is covered in a reflective coating.

He's becoming transparent.

Or should I say...

invisible?!

Eric, you sly dog.

But will it be enough to stop him from becoming snake food?

You don't have eyes like this

without being really good at seeing stuff.

And when I say stuff, I mean Eric.

Will it save him from being passed from the mouth

into the body and through the anus of the killer?

We don't know.

Nothing to see here. Keep moving.

I don't know about you, but I'm clenching.

I'm making frickin' diamonds down there.

Ohh! That's a relief.

And if Eric's safe, his kids are safe.

And now the science.

It says here that Eric's invisibility trick

can make him 61% more transparent.

Though I can still see him a little bit.

So maybe the snake is, is what, like 39% blind?

As he wakes up, Eric's blood spreads back around his body.

He is totally oblivious to how close he came to death

as he returns to the happy bliss of fatherhood.

Oh, a constant feeling of failure.

I feel like I have a black belt in inadequacy.

So sorry, um, we'll cut that out.

Eric, the invisible frog, makes the team.

But there's another Superzero who can find anyone

no matter how well hidden they are.

And she's even got a secret island base.

Back when the dinosaurs ruled the Earth,

Madagascar broke away from Africa.

Like an iceberg

or a disillusioned member of a boy band

who achieved disproportionate fame to the other members.

Anyway, cut off from the other continents

for 90 million years,

the island's animals kind of branched out

and did their own thing.

Just one group, the lemurs, are now available

in more than 100 different shades of cute and fluffy.

With those loveable puppy dog eyes.

But local stories tell of a monstrous relative

that lurks in the darkness.

Whoa!

Whoa.

Wow.

What is that?

This freakish gremlin

is the lemurs' oddball nocturnal cousin,

an aye-aye.

She may look like fear and panic had a baby

and rolled it in dog hair,

but her strange collection of body parts give her the power

to locate food where her pretty daytime cousins can't,

using echolocation, which sounds pretty superpower-y,

and something dumb that DC might use.

And tonight she's giving a MasterClass to her son,

because these sonic superpowers have to be learned.

It all starts with that skinny middle finger.

She begins to tap the middle finger on the bark,

up to eight times per second.

So not what I use it for.

Next she uses those huge ears

to listen for the echoes of her tapping.

Allowing her to form a picture of what's inside the tree.

Let's all be grateful our moms couldn't see through walls.

Can you imagine?

Ugh, the things Tammy would've seen.

The sock forest.

Bingo! A grub, deep inside the rotting tree.

Caviar for aye-ayes, or poutine for Canadians.

And now for his final lesson,

the skinny fingers have another use.

They're perfect for reaching the places other fingers can't.

Oh, so gross!

Just gonna throw up, my pants, and pass away

if everyone's okay with that?

Yeah, your turn, Junior.

Yeah, good luck with that.

If he's gonna become a master of the middle finger,

the first thing is to figure out what to tap.

Warmer.

Warmer.

Colder.

How could anyone think these elegant, fine-featured

little cuties aren't adorable?

Ha ha! Looks like he's finally hit the jackpot.

Oh, the--oh, still... oh, still gross.

Oh, nature's the worst.

Aye-ayes, able to find food where no one else can

or, frankly, would want to.

Anyway, great range of powers on the team so far,

but we're weak on offense.

Let's take the plunge, right to the bottom of the food chain.

The mermaid-infested waters of the Caribbean.

Packed to the gills with glamorous life.

But in any society, there are those at the top,

and then there are the bottom feeders getting crapped on

from up high.

Say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Pistol Shrimp.

The Shrimpses... ses.

They're enjoying a nutritious breakfast of fish feces

on their front porch.

Enchanté.

For them, a safe, secure home is everything.

Why so crucial?

Because shrimp are, well, delicious.

Tarpon love shrimp.

Moray eels love shrimp.

Peeled shrimp, tempura shrimp, barbecue shrimp,

pretty much everyone loves shrimp.

That's why our happy couple have dug their home

under a sea anemone.

It might look like crispy fried noodles,

but an anemone is an animal covered all over

with venomous stingers.

Providing the Shrimpses with a built-in electric fence.

The shrimp aren't totally immune to the sting,

they've just learned to live with the pain.

It seems like a smart move by the shrimp,

but their security system has one flaw.

Because there is a predator

that specializes in eating anemones.

A fireworm!

This is the anemone's-- the, the enemy--

the-the enemy's anemone--

this is the enemy of that thing the shrimp live under.

Yikes.

Is this the end for the shrimp's tentacled bodyguard?

Nope.

The fireworm is about to discover

that these teeny crustaceans have a superpower.

A weapon so deadly

it's like getting hit in the face with a nuke.

Wait, what, that's it?

Oh.

It seems this awesome destructive power

only lasts for 15 millionths of a second.

Been there.

So, we're gonna have to slow it down a bit.

Come on!

Is that the best we could do?

So, pistol shrimp snap their claws so fast,

they smash the sound barrier.

The implosion creates a tiny bubble...

Oh, yes.

...that for a fraction of a second is as hot as the sun.

Yes, as hot as the sun.

The super-heated bubble sends a shock wave

straight through the fireworm

and kills it.

As in dead.

Yep!

Mr. and Mrs. Pistol Shrimp.

Humble, hard-working, and with an "ask questions later"

approach to home security.

All well and good, but what happens if they lose a claw?

Well, I know a guy who can fix that.

He's got a great origin story.

Aztec legends say that long ago,

two gods gave their lives to become the sun and the moon.

But they got stuck, immobile, in the sky.

Typical.

To get them moving, the other gods all agreed

to lay down their lives.

All except for one, Xolotl.

He ran away...

jumped in a lake...

and transformed.

Poor guy, he moves into a nice, quiet neighborhood

and a few centuries later,

20 million other people have moved in there, too.

The good people of Mexico City.

Today tourists come to the ancient lake

to drink and make poor life choices.

But beneath the surface, the descendants of Xolotl,

god of fire and lightning,

twin of the feathered serpent, live on...

...as axolotls.

Now, I know you might think a god

would turn into something cool

like a giant snake or something.

But these guys, they look more like an overgrown tadpole

the size of a wiener with gills like a frilly feather boa.

And as for his hunting skills, they're...

How can I put this? Um...

underwhelming.

In fairness, today he's got other things on his mind,

ungodly things.

Oh, I know that look.

Oh, yeah.

There are less than a thousand axolotls left in the wild,

so these two lovebirds might be responsible

for the fate of their whole species.

No pressure, guys.

- Whoa! Whoa-ho ho! - What the?

Axolotus Interruptus.

Aw, jeez, that's gonna sting.

Sucks to be you.

♪ Something's missing, baby ♪

For most of us, losing a limb is a pretty big deal.

But not for this guy.

♪ Something's missing ♪

All he needs to do is lie low for a while

and let his superpower do its super thing.

♪ Something's missing from my life ♪

While Mexico City life goes on all around the lake,

our little hero is regenerating a whole new leg.

♪ I feel misused, abused, confused ♪

♪ And no place to go ♪

♪ Since you been gone ♪

♪ Everything has turned out wrong ♪

With time, axolotls can regrow almost anything.

Their nervous system, their brain, their heart!

How about my dignity or a fragile global economy?

No?

♪ Something's missing ♪

♪ Something's missing, baby ♪

In just three months, he's fully stocked with limbs

and ready to look for love again.

Atta boy.

It's not long before he tracks down his lady.

I'm not sure exactly how axolotls have sex,

but I am sure I don't want to see it.

Ever.

Let's just cut to the artwork, quickly.

The axolotl, cheating death,

thanks to the power to regrow body parts.

This may just be my favorite, so far.

Dinner's ready!

You see, if you set aside

the lightly glossed-over reasons for doing it,

we've built a great team,

but the greatest Superzero of all is yet to come.

Oh, look, it's everyone's

least favorite housemate,

the cockroach.

They can survive a nuclear apocalypse

on nothing but crumbs.

And they're really, really hard to squish.

So is the cockroach our absolute Superzero?

Nope, too predictable.

We're here for her: a jewel wasp.

Don't be fooled by the pretty face;

she's a parasitic wasp.

I don't know what that means,

but I'm guessing I'm about to find out.

Turns out she's the cockroach's arch nemesis,

a freeloader with a mind-blowing superpower.

And, well, let's just say

she doesn't use her powers for good.

Better run, fella.

But while a cockroach can run,

he hasn't really figured out how to hide.

That's, no, that's not hiding, that's just,

that's waiting around for your demise.

The jewel wasp stings with the accuracy of a brain surgeon.

And targets a very specific part of the roach's brain.

But she's not trying to kill the roach. Oh, no.

Her sting has flooded his brain with dopamine.

Stop.

Meaning right now,

I'd say this little guy is tripping balls.

Riding a unicorn across the apocalypse.

Yeah, just like a demon cowboy

wearing nothing but a hat and perspiration.

♪ Where's my mind? ♪

♪ Where's my mind? ♪

As his mind turns to mush, the cockroach becomes a zombie,

totally within the wasp's power.

♪ Where's my mind? ♪

♪ Where's my mind? ♪

♪ Way out ♪

She chews off an antenna.

♪ See it swimming ♪

And uses it like a straw

to sample the roach's bodily fluids.

Satisfied, the wasp leads the roach off,

like a giant zombie dog on a leash.

So, she's got the power to control minds.

But why, you ask?

Ohh, she's an expectant mom.

Awhh. That baby smell, here one day, gone the next.

Only raising children is hard work,

so she's gonna have the cockroach do it for her.

Hey, roach, blink twice if you're not okay.

I'm kidding, I'm joking.

You don't have eyelids.

This tiny little bundle of joy is a jewel wasp egg.

Mom's role is nearly complete.

All that's left to do

is for her to gently bury the cockroach alive.

She leaves her precious egg to hatch

and burrow into the roach's body.

♪ I've got you under my skin ♪

♪ I've got you deep in the heart of me ♪

♪ So deep in my heart, you're really a part of me ♪

♪ I've got you under my skin ♪

After eating her victim from the inside out,

the fully grown larva transforms into an adult wasp.

Ready to wield its dastardly mind-controlling power.

Turns out the final Superzero is a supervillain.

That's so post-modern.

Oh, look, she's got her mom's eyes.

♪ Yes, I've got you just where I want you ♪

Guys, you-you might wanna look behind you.

♪ Under my skin ♪

Guys!

Uh, we got everything? Anything else?

Oh, that's not a Superzero.

Wolverine is actually an antiquated Canadian word

that means "boring millionaire."

I'm sorry, what's that? No?

Oh, it's not?

It is!

Boring, bougie millionaire.

"Hugh" know what I mean.